Some residents of the only quiet hall on campus have been in an uproar over a new policy they learned Sunday.
The rule required that all doors must remain shut during quiet hours. If there is any noise coming from the confines of rooms, residents might be written up by their floor mentors. The rule was supposed to address the issue of some residents being too loud during quiet hours.
Quiet hours during the weekdays are 8 p.m. to 10 a.m. and midnight to 10 a.m. on the weekends.
But after a meeting Monday night, the Bryan Hall government decided the rule was inappropriate, and hall officials decided to have the students adhere to the official guidelines.
George Athenas, Brody Complex area coordinator for the Department of Residence Life, said there was a misunderstanding between the residents of the hall and dorm officials.
“This policy could never happen,” he said. “We could never mandate students to close their doors during quiet hours. Students and mentors need to understand the difference between a suggestion and a policy.”
Letarsha Hurst, resident director of Bryan Hall, refused to comment.
Mentors from the hall also did not speak about the topic.
Students living in Bryan Hall were required to fill out a contract at the beginning of the year stating they would abide by the quiet-hour regulations. If the residents can’t follow the rules, mentors are expected to enforce penalties on noise violators.
But some students think that the resident director of the hall implemented the policy without going through the proper procedure or addressing the students who were supposedly making the noise.
“Yes, it’s a good thing we don’t have the policy,” no-preference freshman and Bryan Hall resident Kevin O’Donnell said. “It’s a bunch of crap. The resident director made a rule and passed it without consulting anybody.”
Even though some students were upset by the rule, they were not doing much to resist it before it was changed.
“I think the new rule sucks,” said computer engineering junior Bryan Kao, a Bryan Hall resident. “If that’s what they have to do to enforce the rules then that’s what has to be done. We signed the contract, there’s nothing we can do.”
